Canada's Morris to face Australian curling team he coached to Olympic qualification
Australian duo of Tahli Gill, Dean Hewitt relocated to Canmore, Alta., last September
The teacher will square off against his students in mixed doubles curling Sunday night at the Ice Cube.
Canada's John Morris, who has coached the Australian duo of Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt, will face them in round-robin play at the Beijing Games with partner Rachel Homan.
Gill and Hewitt relocated to Canmore, Alta., last September and the teams played practice games there in preparation for the Games.
"He's basically family to us," Hewitt said. "He gave us this really nice card [last week] and he finished off the note saying, 'Friend first. Coach second."'
Morris, of course, had to put his coaching hat away when he and Homan were named Canadian mixed doubles representatives last month.
"That will probably be my toughest game mentally," Morris said in a recent interview. "They are such good friends and such wonderful people.
"I like to play with a bit of an edge and I want to crush my opponent and it's hard to want to crush them because they're so nice."
Gill and Hewitt first reached out to Morris after he won Olympic gold in mixed doubles at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games with Kaitlyn Lawes.
WATCH l Homan and Morris' Olympic appointment is 'what every curler dreams of':
The families have history as Earle Morris — John's father — previously coached Dean's dad, Steve. The elder Hewitt finished seventh for Australia at the 1992 Albertville Games when curling was a demonstration sport.
Gill and Hewitt, meanwhile, have game despite a rough 0-6 start at the Ice Cube. Four of those losses were one-point decisions, including to contenders like Great Britain and Sweden.
The Australians finished fourth at the 2019 world mixed doubles championship. Morris was on-site last December at the Olympic qualification event in the Netherlands when the duo locked up a Beijing berth.
Proper guidance
"They had a dream three years ago and they wanted to go to the Olympics," Morris said. "It really is inspiring for athletes around the world to see.
"If you put the time in, you can make it to the Olympics."
With Morris unavailable, Pete Manasantivongs is serving as Australian coach at this competition.
Morris is trying to win his third career Olympic gold medal. He also won men's team gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on a team with skip Kevin Martin.
"They're a great team and we can't wait to play against the best."
Canada is 4-2 in the round robin after splitting its two matches on Saturday, losing 6-2 to Sweden before bouncing back to beat the United States 7-2.
"It was a battle. The Americans are really a great team, and they can make all the shots. So we had to give them all we had," said Homan.
Australia fell 7-3 to Italy on Saturday and is winless in seven matches at the Games.
WATCH | Where Isabelle Weidemann goes, her family will follow:
